Less than 24 hours after our arrival in Santa Maria, my mom, dad, wife, daughter, son, aunt, uncle and cousin went out to dinner at Rooney’s Irish Pub in the nearby suburb of Orcutt, where I had a beer and Reuben sandwich.

The third stop on my mini pub crawl was going to be the Olde English Tap Room at the Santa Maria Inn where we were staying. But every time I walked by the door it seemed dark and uninviting. Sometimes there was loud pop music blasting ... I suppose they are trying to attract the younger crowd. Because of my big reluctance I decided to skip this place.

The third stop turned out to be not a bar, pub or restaurant, but my parents’ house! On Christmas Day all the relatives gathered there to celebrate my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. My cousin Cindi said that she was going to make herself a margarita, so I asked her to make me one too, since I had never had one in my 54 years on this planet.